Monday, September 21, 2015

Technology Tune-up by Bob Bean - Back to school

This is an ongoing series of articles related to today’s
technology, computers and Internet use, as well as standard safety and security
practices. Remember, use common sense and follow your instincts. Any changes
that you make to your computer are ultimately your responsibility.

Welcome one and all, to the most acclaimed and profound
technology article that you may ever read. The talk of the towns, where the
rubber hits the road, and the cat’s meow… It’s Technology Tune-Up Time! Whether
you are technologically minded, or techno challenged, you my friend have come
to the right place. This is the place where we take the complicated world of
technology, and break it down into every day terms that all of us can
understand.

It is once again that time of year when school is, or
will soon be back in session. The daily homework and mandatory school projects will
begin. This brings me to my point of purpose. The point is to offer some useful
suggestions, all for the purpose of making a student’s time spent on school
studies more productive. So, with that in mind, let’s look at some things that
may help a student to get a bit closer to where they want to be, in less time, and
with less aggravation.

Let’s start with first things first. How’s your computer
running? A student can only be as productive as their computer is responsive.
There are many things that can contribute to a computer being sluggish and difficult.
From a technician’s stand point it is always a good rule of thumb to reinstall
Windows once every year or two, just to keep a computer fresh, fast and in
perfect working order. If your computer is slow, and seems to have a mind of
its own, it is probably a good idea to have it looked at. A reinstall of
Windows and maybe some added system memory can make a world of difference. Or a
system cleaning, update and optimization might be just enough to do the trick.
Either way, a happy computer begets a happy student.

Now, let’s cover a must have for all students. Every student
should have a modern word processor, a spread sheet, database and presentation
program. Not everyone can afford the added expense of buying Microsoft Office
for every computer in the home. Microsoft has a subscription based solution for
all their office programs as a substitute to the one time purchase. This may be
a good alternative for you. It’s called Office 365. To give you a general idea,
Office 365 Personal, is offered to you for $6.99 per month or $69.99 per year.
This includes Microsoft Office on one PC or Mac and one tablet and one phone.
Compare that to Office 365 Home, which is offered to you for $9.99 per month or
$99.99 per year. This includes Microsoft Office on five PCs or Macs and five
tablets and five phones. All of this comes with cloud storage and cloud
programs as well as Skype. You can find more info about this by visiting
https://products.office.com. All things considered, not a bad deal.

How about a free alternative? In this case, free does not
equal less than. This is by all means a respected and world class program
choice. It is an office suite comparable to Microsoft Office that will read,
edit and save files in multiple file formats, including all of Microsoft’s file
types. This program is as good or even better then the newest version of
Microsoft Office. You can have this entire suite of programs and it is all completely
free. This suite is called LibreOffice. I recommend it. Download your free copy
at www.libreoffice.org.

In closing, let me remind everyone to help keep our kids
safe. Pay a little extra attention while driving now that school is back in
session. Add some extra time to your transit. Extend some courtesy to our school
bus drivers. Put down the cell phones while driving, and have a safe school
year.

Until next time, keep trusting and keep believing!

Bob is the owner
and operator of Computer Mechanic, a Computer Repair Business located in Gray,
Maine. His services include: Computer repair both PC and Mac, virus removal, data
recovery, website design and hosting, photo repair and restoration as well as tutoring.
He also offers onsite service, remote connect services and consulting. You can
find more information on his business and contact info by searching for
“Computer Mechanic Gray Maine” anywhere on the World Wide Web.